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Philippine Population Control Groups Launch Suit Against Pro-Life Manila Former Mayor

LifeSiteNews.com

By Hilary White

MANILA, Philippines, October 2, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Lito Atienza, the former mayor of the Philippine capital Manila, who has earned the wrath of abortionists and population control groups for his opposition to the killer abortion drug RU-486, is facing a lawsuit by those same groups.

According to Elizabeth Pangalangan, executive director of the Reproductive Health, Rights and Ethics Center at the University of the Philippines, the suit aims to "hold [Atienza] liable for acts which caused injury to women."

Atienza, who is now the Environment Secretary in the government of Gloria Arroyo, led Manila’s defences against the incursions of international groups that sought to impose artificial contraception and abortion on the strongly Catholic country. He was responsible for the banning of chemical contraceptives in Manila, and stood against heavy international pressure attempting to distribute abortifacient drugs.

Elizabeth Pangalangan is the co-author of a paper titled, "Imposing Misery - The Impact of Manila’s Ban on Contraception." Although Philippine media did not name the other groups behind the lawsuit, the paper lists Pardiss Kebriaei of the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York as a co-author. The Center for Reproductive Rights is a major player in the international population control movement that has been especially active in the effort to use court cases to impose legalised abortion in Latin American countries.

The paper attacks Atienza’s Executive Order No. 003 that declared in 2000, "[Manila] promotes responsible parenthood and upholds natural family planning not just as a method but as a way of self-awareness in promoting the culture of life while discouraging the use of artificial methods of contraception like condoms, pills, intrauterine devices [and] surgical sterilization…" The paper claims that Atienza’s Executive Order "violates the Philippine government’s obligations under national and international law".

In February 2000, Atienza declared Manila’s "commitment and support to the responsible parenthood movement, natural family planning . . . while discouraging the use of artificial methods of contraception like condoms, pills, intrauterine devices, surgical sterilization and others."

Population control groups, working through the auspices of the United Nations and funded through endowments from some of the world’s richest philanthropic foundations, have particularly targeted Catholic countries like the Philippines where pro-life and pro-family opinion is strong.